Wire hatrack



June 29, 1948.

. Filed April 11, 1946 2+ l hw \\\\\..|HliliwhmwwkU MM m A 4 2 .MJ 2 4 m? H E M u m m J m I m w m m I I u w n m 2 V a v 2 ATTORNEY-5 Patented June 29, 1948 I g UNITED ES OFFICE.

WIRE HATRACK Eric J. Ajax; Minneapolis=,.Minn. ApplicationA-pril. 11, 1946', Serial No. 661,382

. l invention relates to article supports and particularly to a rack or frame of resilient construction capable of being attached to a cloth or other reticulated. or flexible, easily penetrated surfacersuch, as the upholstered interior of an automobile sedan body. More particularly, the invention relates .to racks, such as hat or map racks capable of-being attached to the upholstering fabric inside an automobile for carrying a hat, maps, or other articles therein.

It is a particular object of the invention to provide a light weight, easily manufactured, inexpensive hat. rack which may be attached to the substantially horizontal ceiling of upholstering fabric or at any other suitable location by merely deflecting the rack and setting the attachmen-ts thereof in place into the fabric and then. releasing the deflected rack, whereby upon assuming its, normal shape it. grips and firmly holds itself to the supporting surface.

Other and further objectsof the invention. are those inherent in the apparatus herein illustrated, described and claimed.

The invention. is illustrated by the drawings wherein corresponding numerals refer to the same partsand wherein Figure 1 is a horizontal plan view looking down upon. the apparatus prior to its attachment. to an upholstered surface I Figure 2. is a. front. elevationalview taken in the directionoi arrows 2-2-of Figure 1;.

Figure 3 is a side elevational view;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing the method of attachment. to a fabric supporting surface.

The frame of the apparatus may, in general, be defined as. being suitably shaped to carry an article for which the rack is designed and is constructed so that at least opposed. portions of the frame can be deflected by the user for purposes of installation. One of the foremost uses of the invention is as a hat rack, and the illustrated-ch1 bodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings which specifically illustrate ahat rack, although it is to be understood that the specific configuration of the rack, per so, may be varied widely so as to accommodate articles of varying shapes.

Referring to the drawings, the'frame specifically illustrated consists of a pair of U-shaped flexible members 10 and H, member ll being somewhat smaller than Ill and nested within l so that the open end of each U-shaped frame is directed in the same direction. The frame H i in a plane substantially parallel to but die- 7 claims (01. era-32;

placed from the plane of member l0, as shown in Figure 2. The frame I O- is preferablymade of wireof round cross-section, although any-other suitable material may be used, as desired. The frame It isprovided with bent over ends as iilustrated at 13 in Figure 3, and the frame ll with inturnedends, as illustrated at It in- Fig ure I; The two frames are each comparatively flexible and are attached together by a plurality of fastening-bars 15, f6; 11, I8 and I9 whichare of identical side elevational" view and distributed around the two framessothat at lea-st one fasten ing bar is at each of the open ends, as illustrated at it and. L9 and at least another of the fasten ing bars isat the closed curve and as at H. The additional fastening bars 16 and 18- are representative of others that may be used about the frame for the purpose of stifiening, as desired.

The. bars ti-TB are preferably of fiat strip and are preferably spot welded to the Wire U-shaped members ii] and II... thus fastening all of them intoanintegral unit. The location of the fastening, bars tends to increase the stiffness of the resultant composite frame which may, however, still 'bedefl'ectedto the dottedline position shown in Figure 1 by using sufficient force.

The bars I5 each extend from the. larger U- .shaped member If] in a direction at right angles to. the plane of member ID... as illustrated at portitan-15A of the bar [15. The bar i5 extends beyond the plane of the U -shaped member ll. and the-n makes-a short turn at I53 and extends directly back, as shown at. 15C, tov the member H where it is. fastened in place. Each of the fastening; bars. is thus shaped and there is accord ingly provided lsuflicient space, for. the up-tumed brim of a hat. which is shown. in dotted lines. at H in Figure -2.

The attachment of the rack to an unholstering fabric is accomplished by means of a phirality of -U:-shaped,, double-pointed fastening pm as, 2st and. These pins are double pointed; as indicated at 20A and 20B in Figures 1 and 3. The portions 20A and 20B lie substantially parallel to, but displaced from, the plane of member' 10. The portions 20A and 203 then extend around the member ill and thence down, as illustrated at 20C andZllD to a. place below the member Ill andthence in andbehind the fastening bar ID, as illustrated at 20E. In this manner the fastening members 20 and each of the other members 2| and 22 are mechanically locked into the assembled rack. The double pointed pins are each then solidly fastened in place by spot welding or soldering to the member In or the frame members [-5- l 9.

At least two of the fastening members are positioned on opposite defiectable portions of the main frame, as illustrated for example at 20 and 22, and the pointed ends of such fastening members are oppositely directed, that is to say, they are either directed towards each other, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, or they may, if desired, each be'directe'd away from each other, that is to say, outwardly from the space enclosed by the rack. To fasten the rack in place it is held up against the upholstered fabric ceiling surface or wall surface and by pulling the rack in the direction of the points of pin 2|, that pin is forced into the fabric. In starting the points of the pins into the fabric it is usually best to pick the fabric forward against the points of the pin as this assists in easy starting and uniform penetrations The opposed defiectableiends of the rack are then deflected so as to permitthe fastening pins adjacent such ends likewise to be introduced into the fabric. Where the pins are oriented, as illustrated in Figure l, the opposed portions of the rack as at HA and B are deflected away from each other to the dotted line position shown in Figure 1. Then the points of the fasteners 20 and 22 are likewise started into the fabric and the frame is permitted to spring back to its normal position, and in so doing the points of the fasteners are pushed deep into the fabric support. The frame therefore hangs supported upon the fabric and serves as a convenient hat support and support for any other article such as maps, etc. which the frame is shaped to receive. If pins 20 and 22 are directed outwardly the ends HA and HB would then be pulled towards each other during the fastening operation,

The entire unit is preferably finished by chromium or nickel plating or by suitable lacquer or polish.

As many apparently widely diiferentembodiments of this invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope thereof, it is to be understood that I do not limit myself to the specific embodiments herein except as defined by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A hat rack comprising a U-shaped main frame of resilient material, a smaller U-shaped frame attached to the main frame and displaced from the plane of the main frame for supporting an article such as a hat thereon, and a plurality of sharply pointed pins fastened to the main frame at spaced intervals therearound with-the points of said'fastening pins directed into the space enclosed by the U-shaped frame,

2. As an article of manufacture, a hat rack comprising a'frame made of two U-shaped resilient members each having opposed legs, one smaller than the other and positioned with the smaller within the largerand with the closed ends of the large and small U -shaped members contiguous, the plane of the smaller U-shaped member being displaced in respect to that of the larger member, fastening bars extending from one member to the other for uniting them into a unitary assembly having slight resiliency, and a plurality of sharply pointed fastening pins attached to the larger of said members, at least one of such fastening pins being on each leg thereof, the points of said fastening pin on one leg being directed oppositely to the points of the fastening pin in the other leg.

3. The article of manufacture set forth in claim 2 further characterized in that the points of the fastening pins are directed towards the space enclosed by the U -shaped frames.

4. The article of manufacture set forth in claim 2v further characterized in that the fastening bars'extending from one of the U-shaped members to the other such member are angularly shaped and each extends from the larger U- shaped member in a direction transverse to the plane of said member to a point beyond the plane of the smaller U -shaped member and then back to said smaller U -shaped member.

5. The article of manufacture set forth in claim 2 further characterized in that the U-shaped frames are of wire of round cross-section and the fastening bars are of flat stock, each fastening bar being welded to each resilient U -shaped member.

6. As an article of manufacture, a hat rack comprising a frame made of two U-shaped resilient members of wire curved to form a U-shape, one being larger than the other and positioned with the open end of each U-shaped member pointed in the same direction and with the smaller U-shaped member positioned in a plane displaced from but substantially parallel to that of the larger U-shaped member, a plurality of fastening strips positioned so as to extend from one member to the other in a direction transverse to the members at the place of positioning thereof, each fastening strip being attached to each member so as to form the two members and fastening strips into a stiffiy resilient frame and a plurality of U-shaped double pointed fastening pins, at least one such fastening pin being on each leg of the larger U-shaped frame member and one at the closed end portion of said U-shaped frame, each such pin being attached adjacent a fastening strip with the points of said pins directed toward the space enclosed by the U-shaped frame members. I v

'7. The article of manufacture described in claim 6 further characterized in that each fastening pin is attached with the closed portion thereof against a fastening strip and the two portions of the pin passing outwardly, one portion along each edge of the fastening strip and both of said portions thence around the larger U- shaped frame member and towards the space enclosed by said frame member.

ERIC J. AJAX.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:-

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 459,281 Godwin Sept. 8, 1891 898,936 Small Sept. 15, 1908 1,316,375 Mayer Sept. 16, 1919 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 184,865 Great Britain Aug. 21, 1922 

